A tough and ambitious challenge awaits the Gilera Metis Racing Team as the 2006 season unfolds. The year 2006 will mark Gilera’s return to the 250cc class 13 years after the brand’s last appearance in this class. Gilera made a spectacular comeback in the 125cc class of the motorcycling world championship in 2001, winning the rider world championship. Now, five seasons after its sterling performance in the smallest displacement category of the championship, Gilera returns to the 250cc class while maintaining its presence in the 125cc class.

“Gilera is back in the 250cc class – says Daniele Bandiera, Gilera brand director – and this is a clear signal of the extent to which this venerable Italian motorcycling brand believes in racing as an unmatched opportunity for technical experimentation and progress. We are also reiterating our commitment to the 125cc class, an extraordinarily tough and spectacular category in which we have been present for the last five seasons. Naturally, we will have two young and much-awaited Italian riders racing our bikes. The last time Gilera won two different classes of the world championship was in 1957. Those were the years of the Gilera 500 four-cylinder, which dominated the top category; years that contributed to building up the legend of a brand the world envies us. And this is partly why the new Gilera brand, which reproduces the historic brand — the same interlaced rings seen on the bikes that won six 500cc rider championship titles — will feature on this year’s bikes.”

Marco Simoncelli will ride the Gilera 250, renewing a tradition that has contributed several pages to the history of championship racing in the various classes with champions such as Umberto Masetti, Libero Liberati and Geoff Duke and, more recently, Manuel Poggiali taking Gilera to victory. Marco Simoncelli is one of the most popular riders on the Moto GP circuit. The 18-year-old from Romangola is a skilled and extroverted rider who gives every race his best shot. He has made his mark in the 125cc class with his aggressive, obstinate approach. Gilera is also back in the 125cc class, the most competitive category of the Moto GP, with a new and very technologically advanced bike that 19-year-old Roman rider Simone Corsi will take into the fray. Says Giampiero Sacchi, Team Manager: Expectations will be very high this season. Our only objective in the 250 and 125cc class is to win. The Gilera brand’s return to high-level racing is proof of the Piaggio Group’s increasingly firm commitment to the international racing scenario.

And, as the Racing Team prepares to make its debut, Gilera is reaffirming its interest in teenage race fans and riders with a preview of no fewer than four new vehicles meant exclusively for them: two scooters and two magnificent motorcycles.

• Runner SC. Gilera’s bestselling sport scooter now features the SC (Squadra Corse) logo and the colours of the bikes that Simoncelli and Corsi will be racing on circuits worldwide. The liquid-cooled Runner SC will be available with the 50cc Runner 50 SP - SC (carburettor) and the Runner 50 PJ – SC engine with avant-garde electronic injection as well as a powerful four-stroke, four-valve 125cc engine.

• Runner VXR 200 Race. The latest version of the sport scooter par excellence is now also available in the largest and most powerful displacement of the Runner range. Equipped with a powerful four-stroke, liquid-cooled 200cc engine, the Runner VXR Race is strongly oriented to racing and riding pleasure. With a 19 bhp power output, it offers the sport riding experience of a “scooter with the heart of a motorcycle” that has revolutionised the sport scooter concept.

• Gilera SMT 50 2006. A 50cc two-stroke, six-speed engine, reed valve intake, a double-beam frame, two disc brakes and 17” wheel rims: the little Gilera SMT introduces the youngest riders to the pleasures of the supermotard. A new RCR 50 enduro will soon be available alongside this bike with avant-garde technical content.

• GileraSC 125. Gilera is making a comeback in the super-sport 125cc class with an uncompromising bike equipped with a 125cc two-stroke, liquid-cooled engine, a six-speed gearbox, a double-beam frame, two disc brakes and a front radial calliper. Available in the colours of the Gilera GP bikes ridden by Simoncelli and Corsi, the SC 125 is a purebred sport bike for the youngest fans.